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passthepitonspete
Oct 29, 2001, 10:50 PM
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Registered: Oct 9, 2001
Posts: 2183
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laurent writes,
"Hi Pete aka passthepitonpete & all,
"By looking at the other posts I am still
wondering whether posting this will
really be useful (at least for me). But
here it is anyway.
"Who has never dreamt of climbing the
Nose at least once in a climber's life?
"For me and many of my friends this is a
great objective. 3 pals of mine have
already tried it but they had to rappel
from the Great Roof due to bad
weather. Yet, being based in Europe,
this remains a US trip objective for all of
us.
"I'd be pleased to learn how much as
possible of your experience on that
emblematic route, what gear you used,
what you find easiest and most difficult,
etc.
Signed,
laurent
aka Laurent Philippart
Lisbon, Portugal
[ This Message was edited by: passthepitonspete on 2001-10-29 22:52 ]
Edited to remove Regional Link.
[ This Message was edited by: rrradam on 2001-11-07 20:54 ]
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passthepitonspete
Oct 29, 2001, 11:31 PM
Post #2 of 4
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Registered: Oct 9, 2001
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Dear Laurent,
"Bon dia! Como estash?"
This is the limit of Dr. Piton's Portuguese. Although he is terrible at languages, it has been said that he is good at linguists, particularly of the "cunnil" variety.
You ask, Laurent, "Who has never dreamt of climbing the Nose at least once in a climber's life?
Well, you must realize, Laurent, is that there are two types of people in the world: those who "get it", and those who don't. Although you may find this difficult to comprehend, there are actually those who call themselves "climbers" but who DON'T dream of climbing The Nose. Their dreams consist of clipping bolts and climbing boulders, their idea of fun being to pull down on plastic. The Woosies! Their idea of endurance is ninety feet of climbing, or ten moves in a row! Pshaw!
Real Men aspire to climb The Big Stone, to suffer and sweat and curse and suffer some more, and even - (get this!) - to expose themselves to DANGER and actually GET SCARED! Can you imagine??? Actually taking a RISK?! What IS the climbing world coming to?
Note: "Wannabe" Hardmen and Aspirant Wall Rats who don't want to actually risk CLIMBING a wall can hang out in the parking lot of Camp 4 in Yosemite or in El Cap Meadows and share their knowledge of big wall climbing (not actually learned on a wall) with anyone willing (or not willing) to listen. Further marks are given those who actually HIKE to the base of El Cap, and shout a lot while fixing pitches. Extra points are acquired by yelling loudest and "talking the talk" the best. Note that most such people disappear under cover of darkness after stealthily removing their fixed ropes from one station up which took them three days to reach.
The Nose was actually my first El Cap route, and is therefore in many ways the most significant. I didn't exactly feel like a Real Big Wall Climber until I had a few more El Cap routes ticked off, but climbing The Nose was a big first step. My ex-wife foolishly believed that after climbing El Cap, I would somehow be "satisfied", and that I perhaps wouldn't "need" to climb as much. How wrong she was......
The Nose is the most popular and most publicized route on El Cap. You can find beta everywhere:
Chris McNamara publishes some great beta in his Supertopo website. His guidebook of El Cap is superb!
http://www.supertopo.com/topos/thenose.html
There are also haulbags full of trip reports on Tuan's Yosemite Rock Page:
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/mountain/yosemite/
But of course, what has to be more interesting is the story of a Real Epic, of courage, frustration, and unwillingness to quit in the face of insurmountable odds, this being the story of my first ascent of El Cap:
http://www.rockclimbing.com/ascent/index.php?AscentID=252
If the truth be known, it took me five years to convince by bitch ex-wife to "allow" me to return to Yosemite, so I'd have been buggered before I'd have returned home empty-handed!
If you remember nothing else, Laurent, you must never forget, "climbing big walls is just a different kind of suffering."
Cheers,
Dr. Piton
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laurent
Oct 30, 2001, 12:19 PM
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Registered: Jan 26, 2000
Posts: 40
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Thank you Pete for the information.
There's really plenty available on the web but the forum is always a more "interactive" way of sharing experience.
By looking at the number of people viewing the El Cap thread one sees that there are still climbers who actually enjoy big walls & trad.
I wish all those who are reading this thread to contribute with their stories etc.
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passthepitonspete
Oct 30, 2001, 3:48 PM
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Registered: Oct 9, 2001
Posts: 2183
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I'm glad you found some of our information helpful!
I'm doing my best to make this the #1 El Cap and Big Wall Climbing website on the web.
Always remember that you or anyone else who has specific big wall "how to" questions, or specific route beta questions about El Cap can "Ask Dr. Piton...."
Please put technical how-to questions in the Aid Climbing Forum, and Yosemite-route-specific questions in the Regional Forum, by first going to El Cap and entering it there.
Cheers, Pete
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